When your whole province is on literal fire and the DELTA variant (and the lesser-known LIGMA variant) is bringing COVID back to life to kill again like the last scene of a Friday the 13th movie, I think we could all use a bit of an escape. This week’s horror news covers the full lineup from the Midnight Madness programme at the Toronto International Film Festival, a spider-themed creature feature, and news about new projects from the folks that brought you [REC]. Check it all out here!
With the Fantasia Film Festival underway and the Toronto International Film Festival on the horizon, new horror from all over the globe is about to be unveiled to the world. As far as TIFF is concerned, Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky has a six-film slate of thrills for in-person audiences in Toronto and virtual ones throughout Canada. Here’s what he’s serving up:
Titane – I was fortunate to be in attendance Julia Ducournau broke onto the scene at TIFF 2016 with her first film, Raw, and I think it’s safe to say that everyone in that audience knew she was destined for big things. Well, it’s hard to get much bigger than the Palme D’Or at Cannes and Ducournau’s second feature, Titane, picked up that honour this year. I’ve talked plenty about this one in this space, but people will definitely be talking when Titane premieres at TIFF.
DASHCAM – Rob Savage (HOST) returns with a new screenlife feature that takes place entirely from the perspective of an online streamer’s dashboard camera. It’s perhaps the shortest feature in this lineup at 77 minutes, but if HOST was any indication, there should be a ton of scares to be packed into that running time.
Zalava – This Iranian horror from director Arsalan Amiri follows a military officer who has his beliefs challenged by an exorcist in a remote village.
You Are Not My Mother – Kate Dolan’s debut feature could be the next Raw or Saint Maud out of this lineup of films. It’s purported to be a tense Irish folk horror about a young girl who fears her mother is not quite what she seems. If you want to wet your whistle ahead of this one, Dolan’s excellent short film Catcalls is online for you to watch.
Saloum – This Senegalese thriller from Jean Luc Herbulot follows a mercenary team traversing a little-known region of Senegal. This one looks extremely cool.
After Blue (Dirty Paradise) – To say this one is confounding doesn’t even begin to do it justice. Bertrand Mandico’s feature tells the story of a mother and daughter hunting a serial killer in an acid-tinged genre-defying erotic science fiction western. Even more than Titane, there isn’t anything in this lineup that has me more intrigued.
Stay tuned for coverage of the Festival next month! Until then, you can find schedules (as of August 24) and ticket information at TIFF.net .
[REC] co-director Paco Plaza is back with a new feature called Grandmother (La Abuela), and it looks wild. Seemingly touching on themes explored by films like The Taking of Deborah Logan and Relic, La Abuela is about a young model who travels from Paris to take care of her aging grandmother who has suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
La Abuela will be released in theatres on October 22 from Sony. We’ve got a trailer that isn’t subtitled, but the imagery is unsettling enough that I think you get the point. Check it out!
Speaking of [REC], a new documentary from Filmax about the film called Terror Sin Pause has begun principal photography, according to Bloody Disgusting. The doc will feature interviews with directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, as well as [REC]‘s cast. Terror Sin Pause will also cover the cultural impact of the first film as a pioneer in the found footage craze, as well as tours of the locations used in the movie.
If you’re an arachnophobe, you may want to stay away from the new creature feature, Spider in the Attic. For everyone else, though, this story of a reporter that investigates an old house, only to find – guess what – a nest of spiders in the attic looks just chock-full of surprises. The film is directed by Scott Jeffrey and stars Nicola Wright, Sarah Alexandra Marks, Chelsea Greenwood, Kate Sandison, Danielle Scott, Clint Gordon, Chris Cordell, and Kate Milner Evans and should be released later this year.
Anyone that knows me has had their ear talked off about Timo Tjahjanto’s amazing action-horror The Night Comes For Us and my unrelenting love for that movie. Well, the director dropped a bomb on Twitter this week in the form of some stills of a deleted scene from the film that he describes as “Cormic McCarthian”, meaning that it was too dark to even include in his (extremely dark) movie. Have a look and judge for yourself, and if you haven’t seen The Night Comes For Us, I give it my strongest possible recommendation.
